diff --git a/transformer_engine/pytorch/module/base.py b/transformer_engine/pytorch/module/base.py
index e9a65c3648..59a4d7e08a 100644
--- a/transformer_engine/pytorch/module/base.py
+++ b/transformer_engine/pytorch/module/base.py
@@ -1961,7 +1961,7 @@ def backward_dw(self):
             if not self.fuse_wgrad_accumulation:
                 weight_tensor = noop_cat(self._get_weight_tensors())
                 weight_tensor.grad = wgrad.to(weight_tensor.dtype)
-            if self.use_bias:
+            if self.use_bias and bgrad is not None and bgrad.numel() != 0:
                 bias_tensor = noop_cat([getattr(self, name) for name in self.bias_names])
                 if bias_tensor.grad is None:
                     bias_tensor.grad = bgrad.to(bias_tensor.dtype)